Tools- of Changes

Sustainable Fashion, Circularity and Consumer Behavior

This systematic literature review draws on the richness of evidence of both consumer behavior and sustainable fashion research. It identifies the barriers to transition and applies a systems social marketing approach to set the agenda for future research avenues and identified action goals for social marketing benchmarking.

This study advances the systematic review method by combining scientific mapping and a multi-phase qualitative thematic coding techniques.

Conclusions:

• To develop multilayer societal interventions and to integrate circularity into the fashion system it is important to consider that regulatory frameworks for circular business models, production and the fashion market are expected to significantly impact and scale up sustainable practices.
• Eco-friendly behaviors like recycling should be integrated into systems social marketing strategies, bridging multilevel actors and embedding them in diverse social and cultural contexts.
• Collaborative fashion consumption is expanding on online platforms, promoting and upscaling secondhand or ‘pre-worn’ and ‘preloved’ items, providing examples of new ways of marketing, attitudes and economic models.

Published in January 2025.